CHAPTER ONE

In which Kin is NOT a less-than-minor character, and Shikamaru says 'basement' way too often

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Kin sat up in darkness with a gasp, her eyes snapping open. Exhaling shallowly, the Sound genin brought her hand up to her face. After confirming to herself that nothing was broken, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She looked around, and found that her eyes simply weren;t adjusting to the gloom whatsoever. This was unnatural blackness.

"Basement."

"Huh?" Kin jumped to her feet and whirled around, hand reaching for a couple of her needles. She searched the darkness with every sense, narrowing her eyes. Still nothing. Was she blind?

"Basement," the voice repeated, sounding rather annoyed. "Didn't you hear me before?"

Kin twitched at the familiar voice. Who…? Why did it sound so familiar? Lowering her sanbon needles slightly, she tilted her head to the side.

"Who are you?"

"Shikamaru Nara. I beat you in that troublesome preliminary exam."

Kin blinked. Oh. She raised her needles again, on the defense. If it came to a fight, she would be at a hopeless disadvantage; there were shadows everywhere! "Where are we?"

"I told you already." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sat down on the cold concrete. "We're in a basement."

"A basement? What…? How?"

Shikamaru shrugged, though he knew the Sound genin wouldn't be able to see, and let out a small sigh. "It's too troublesome to try and figure it out," he muttered, and lay abruptly on his back, arms under his head. "I'm going to sleep now."

Kin furrowed her brow. "Wait. Do you know where we are, aside from beind in a basement? Where is the basement?"

Snores answered her question. Kin snorted in disgust and shook her head, lowering her needles once more. This one wasn't going to attack her, it would be too troublesome. "Stupid lazy-ass."

So Kin sat alone in the darkness for what seemed to be hours, though in reality it was only about five minutes.

"Eh? …Shikamaru?"

Immediately, Kin was on the defensive. Another Konoha shinobi? What was going on here?

"O…oi! Shikamaru! Wake up!" Rustling sounds. Someone was trying to wake the lazy-ass up. Kin sat crosslegged, needles at the ready.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru's eyes snapped open. "Idiot, you're okay!"

Naruto laughed weakly. "Yeah, I'm okay. I feel so woozy, though. I must have blacked out…"

"Huh. Me, too."

"Hey, yeah…where are we, exactly?" Naruto asked suddenly, and Kin winced at the scratchy, high-pitched sound that was his voice.

"In a basement, apparently," Kin intoned from the darkness. There was a scuffling sound as the one called Naruto jumped to his feet, suddenly alert and aware.

"Who…who the hell is that?"

"Kin Tsuchi," Shikamaru muttered. "Of the Sound. The one I went up against in the prelims."

"Who?"

"The girl with the senbon needles, dumbass."

"What! That girl? You didn't tell me she was there! She's one of Orochimaru's people!" Naruto whipped out a kunai and took a stance, eyes darting around in the gloom. Shikamaru pulled him back down.

"Hey, don't be so hasty!"

"WHY THE HELL SHOULDN'T I?"

Shikamaru snorted and lowered his voice, by force of habit rather than anything else, as Kin could hear him anyway. "If she tries, it's two on one; we could take her out easily."

Kin laid down, hand across her eyes. How long, exactly, would she be stuck with these two? She needed to get out, to get back to master Orochimaru! He said he needed her for a very important mission. If she wasn't present, she would definitely be in for it.

Naruto huffed and sat down slowly.

The silence stretched on for minutes before Naruto finally couldn't take it any more. "Okay! Shikamaru, let's bust out of here!"

"Stupid, we don't even know where we are!"

"I thought you said we were in a basement!" Kin snapped, annoyed. Shikamaru grunted.

"Yeah, but where's the basement? Don't be stupid, you asked the same question two minuets ago!"

"Awww, come onnnn!"

Kin flinched again. How could this boy be so loud?

"Uuuuu-zuuuu-maki!"

Not more Konoha idiots! Kin slapped her forehead and fell backwards once more. This was going to be torture.

"Inuzuka!" Naruto yelped, nearly jumping six feet in the air. "You're here, too!"

Kiba sat up, rubbing his head. "You're loud enough to wake the dead. Where are we?"

"A basement," Shikamaru supplied once more. He was beginning to get tired of this.

"Shikamaru! You're here, too?"

"Sort of."

Kin sighed loudly. "I might as well wait until any more of you Konoha idiots wake up to introduce myself."

"Eh?" Kiba's head jerked up and he was instantly on the alert. "Who's that?"

"I just said that I…"

"Kin Tsuchi, from Otogakure."

Kiba growled, and out of nowhere something echoed him. "A Sound nin! Akamaru, sniff her out!"

"Calm down," Shikamaru muttered. "It'd be too troublesome to have a fight here. Suddenly, he frowned, a thought occuring to him. "Hey, Kiba. Who else is in this stupid room?"

"What makes you so certain that there are more people?" Kin asked, just to say something.

"I can sense that this is a big room," Shikamaru replied, sounding bored. "Plus, my voice isn't echoing. That alone tells me that something must be absorbing my voice. Most likely, a lot of bodies, which are dense enough to do that. You, of all people, should know that."

Kin hmfed. "I was testing you," she retorted.

"I'm sure you were."

Oh, so he's also a smartass, huh?

Kiba sniffed the air, and immediately recoiled. "Ugh. A hell of a lot of people, that's for sure. I can't smell a single individual scent."

Shikamaru made a noise in his throat. "Ah, how troublesome. I wonder, what could have made this happen?"

"Either it's a very powerful genjutsu, or someone's knocked us all out at once, abducted us and put us in the basement, here."

"Gwah!" Naruto exclaimed, falling on his face. "Shino! What…where…when?"

"I was awake the whole time."

"What are you doing here?" Kiba asked. "I thought you were on a mission?"

"I'm not anymore. And that's nothing, since Tsuchi's supposed to be dead…hm. I suppose I just eliminated my own abduction theory.

Kin gasped. "Wh…what?"

"Ehhh!" Kiba and Naruto both exclaimed, simultaniously. "How is that possible?" Kiba added, narrowing his eyes in the gloom.

"I…I'm dead?" Kin squeaked, bringing her hands up to her face frantically. "That's…that's crazy!" but not so crazy. Now that she thought about it, the last thing she remembered before waking up in the basement was pain. Lots of pain.

Shikamaru sighed. "Whatever. This is troublesome. I'm going back to sleep."

"No you're not!" Naruto exclaimed, reaching out blindly and fumbling. Eventually, he got a hold of Shikamaru's flak jacket collar and shook him back and forth like a rag doll.

"You need to find a way out of here! Think, dammit!"

"Hey, Naruto! Stop shaking Shikamaru and use that Rasengan of yours to blast us out of here!" Kiba interrupted, smacking his fists together eagerly.

Naruto groaned and fell backwards. "How could I have forgotten about that?"

"Don't waste your time. He couldn't find the wall even if it were right in front of him."

"S-SASUKE?"

OHOHOHOHO. Didn't see THAT one coming did ya? Yeah, you probably did.

so. I don't know why I started off in Kin's perspective. I guess I felt that the Sound genin needed some love. And it's true! Dosu and Zaku and Kin are THE SHIT. WERE. THE SHIT.

So yeah. Enjoy!

~ins